Barrie, Canada
Kempenfelt Traffic Jam
"Where the highway ends and the waiting begins"
Official Coat of Arms
A shield bearing a stalled recreational vehicle rampant upon a sea of brake lights, flanked by two Tim Hortons cups, beneath a banner reading 'Almost There Since 1959'. The crest features a seagull perched atop a GO Train that never actually arrives.
TripAdvisor Review
★★★☆☆ 3/5
"Drove up from Toronto for a weekend at the lake and spent most of it stuck on the 400 instead. Kempenfest was fun, RV Show was fun, but good luck finding parking anywhere near Kempenfelt Bay in summer. The waterfront trail is genuinely lovely once you get there, so three stars for eventually getting there."— CottageCountryCasualty_Etobicoke
Property Listing
Charming lakeside city just ninety minutes from Toronto — or three hours on a long weekend Friday! Enjoy stunning views of Kempenfelt Bay, a vibrant downtown, and the unbeatable convenience of being exactly where every cottager funnels through on their way somewhere better.
Twinned With
Orillia — Two Lake Simcoe cottage-route bottlenecks locked in eternal cottage-traffic rivalry.
Supporting Evidence
Barrie is officially the snowmobile capital of Ontario and hosts one of the largest snowmobile shows in the province, despite also being a major bottleneck on the route north for anyone trying to escape the GTA.